“Plato’s Closet® and Once Upon A Child are all about recycling,” owner Ann Whitton said. “It just makes sense for us to offer free electric vehicle charging to our customers, who we know care about protecting the environment.”

Plato’s Closet® and Once Upon A Child® are a part of the nationwide Winmark Corporation franchise system. Plato’s Closet® specializes in clothes for teens and twenty-somethings, while Once Upon A Child® caters to children with clothes, toys and equipment. Each location is individually owned and operated.

Local owners, Norman and Ann Whitton, installed electric vehicle charging stations at 4 of their 8 stores, as an operations efficiency to charge company electric vehicles, which include a Nissan Leaf and a Chevy Volt. The stores also purchase 100 percent renewable electricity for their store operations, which makes electric vehicle operation emission-free.

“The operating cost is about 2 to 4 cents per mile – compared to about 10 to 20 cents per mile for equivalent gasoline-powered vehicles,” Norman Whitton said.

When the charging stations are not already in use by company cars, the owners said the 240-volt, Level II charging stations will be available for free use by any customers, who are just required to sign in inside the store when they arrive.

A recent study by Pike Research shows adoption of electric vehicles is strongly linked to access to charging stations. The same study suggests that Texas, California, New York and Florida will lead the growth of the electric vehicle, and that across the U.S., annual sales may reach over 400,000 cars in the U.S. by 2020.

The electric vehicle charging stations will be available at the following Houston locations: Plato’s Closet® Greenway Plaza at 3277 Southwest Freeway, Plato’s Closet® Willowbrook at 7885 Willowbrook Mall Drive in Houston, Plato’s Closet® Sugar Land at 13741 Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land, and Once Upon A Child® Baybrook at 19028 Gulf Freeway in Friendswood.

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